{Disclaimer: these are my rough teaching notes I use in my Mishkan Katan weekly broadcasts. There will be "typos". Proceed at your own risk, lol.You can find all my Mishkan Katan video teachings on my YouTube channel: genahood2818 . Look on the playlist called Messianic LAMB TV Network.}
Boker Tov! Today is National Hotdog Day! How do I know this and what does it matter? Well, I saw it online a few days ago and since we are hosting the mid-week Bible study at our house tonight, I thought it would be a good move to serve hotdogs on the National Day of Hotdogs. Just a fun fact for you, to start the morning here at MK. ONLY All-beef kosher hotdogs, of course!
This morning, we are going to return to our study of the psalms, beginning with psalm 34. However, before we do that, I am going to address a topic that came up this past Monday, when I was “subbing in” on another LAMB show. I did not weigh in at the time, because I wanted to think it through. But, afterwards, I did meditate on it and the implications for this show, Mishkan Katan.
Does it bring you joy when someone you love says your first name aloud? It brings me joy, unless I’m being corrected or disrespected, of course. My husband rarely uses my first name, but when he does, it makes me happy. Why? Because the use of my first name by him emphasizes the beauty of our relationship. Because we love each other, my name sounds more beautiful when he says it. Using someone’s first name is much more common in American society than it used to be, just as a matter of course, lack of civility, whatever. But, using someone’s first name used to indicate an increased level of familiarity or a more personal, intimate relationship.
You may have noticed on my show that I usually pronounce the Tetragrammaton, the four-letter sacred name for God, as it is often pronounced, “Yahweh”, when I speak of Him or when I encounter the Sacred Name in Scripture. The reason I do this is because He gave us His most personal Name in Scripture when He met with Moses at the Burning Bush, and nowhere in Scripture are we forbidden to speak it aloud. The reason many do not speak that most personal, sacred name aloud is due to a rabbinical tradition which many centuries ago deemed its vocalization to be disrespectful or in some way diminishing or profaning the most sacred name. As a result, over the years, we have, due to this instituted rabbinical practice, lost the accurate pronunciation of The Name. When we vocalize it aloud today as Yahweh, that is just our best guess of how it is actually pronounced. I think that is regrettable.
Observant Jews, as a group, avoid saying the sacred name aloud, and to hear someone else say it aloud is quite offensive to them. Therefore, when I am speaking to my orthodox rabbi for example, I always substitute “HaShem” for the sacred name. HaShem in Hebrew means “THE name”. All Jews know that this designation refers to the Tetragrammaton.
As Ryan White points out, the apostle Saul changed his name to Paul, because the word Saul, in Greek culture meant “a provocative way of walking”, referring to women walking. This was hardly what Paul wanted to connote when attempting to spread the gospel. Imagine if your pastor’s first name unfortunately happened to be Twerk. That’s a bit extreme, but you get the idea. So, Paul “became all things to all men that he might by some means save some.” 1 Cor. 9:22.
Among Messianics, there is a diversity of opinion and usage, on this point. I have one Jewish teacher, a legit Jew, born orthodox, whose Messiah is Yeshua/Jesus, who regularly uses the Tetragrammaton to refer to God. He does this because it implies a close relationship of deep love. He is criticized for doing this, but he refuses to compromise the great and personal name of his God by shying away from doing so. I respect this teacher very much, and so have adopted his pattern of using the Tetragrammaton.
However, he is the exception, not the rule. Most Messianics do not speak the Tetragrammaton aloud and, like Jews, are offended if someone else does. There is already so much fragmentation and division among the ranks of those who claim Yeshua as Mashiach. I have become convicted that there is no need to further that division here on my show at LAMB by potentially offending other content producers, many of whom believe very strongly about this point, or potentially offending viewers similarly.
Because of these factors, going forward, I will either use Hashem or Adonai when encountering the sacred name, unless I am using as my Bible translation one that uses the sacred name in its translation. Some translations do, some don’t.
Since the message here at MK is more important than the labels or the names, I’m choosing this approach. You may call it backing down or chickening out on my convictions. I call it having respect, building bridges and reaching out a hand toward unity.
Along these same lines, I encountered an excellent article by Ryan White this past week. It is relevant to this discussion, because Yeshua’s followers throw up a lot of walls on this point also, needlessly so. The article had to do with using the name Yeshua or Jesus to refer to the Mashiach, the Messiah. I highly recommend it. Just find Ryan White’s work online, and you’ll see the article. It is entitled, “The Shocking Truth About Jesus’ Real Name”, and I’ll have the link in my show notes on my blog, after the show today. But, you can find him on Substack or on his website. His ministry is “Faith of Messiah Ministries”. Ryan White.
Allright, let’s look now at Psalm 34. Did you enjoy the just-ended 3-part series on the korbanot? I thought that gave all of us a nice break. I may do another one of those mini-series later on, if I feel we are getting Psalms Fatigue.
Psalm 34 is very interesting.
Have you ever heard the expression, “Timing is everything?” It is a sound principle for successful living, for sure, although it is not a direct quote from the Bible. However, in Ecclesiastes 3:11, The Preacher (usually acknowledged as King Solomon) declares, “He made everything beautiful in its proper time.” Timing belts on automobiles are crucial. Without the timing belt the vehicle will absolutely not function properly. Many people make many mistakes in their lives NOT because their actions in and of themselves are wrong or sinful, but because the timing of their words or actions is wrong.
Later today, if I can find the time - - I have 16 people coming over for dinner tonight - - I need to work on my fig tree. About a month ago, I planted a 2-year old fig tree of the Black Bethlehem variety, and it was so beautiful! It was covered in lovely figs, and I have dreamed of having luscious figs, come September. However, I don’t know if I planted it a little too late, or if I have given it too much water at the wrong time, or what, but it is stressed. The leaves are turning yellow and falling off. I’m quite upset over this, naturally. So, I consulted my friend, whom I call “the fig mama”….and she suggested that I prune off with clean shears some of the figs. Why? Because the tree is expending all its effort in growing the figs, as opposed to spending its energies on putting down deep roots. If some of the fruit is removed, the tree will focus on deepening roots which will make it a healthier tree in the long run. However, I am sad to do it, and I’m sure the tree won’t like it either. Producing fruit and putting down roots are both great things for a “good tree” to do, but timing is crucial.
Sometimes, in our own fruit-bearing, we get turned crosswise, or get wrong-headed, or otherwise derailed in our walk with God. At those times, whether it’s because our timing is wrong or whatever, our loving Father has to re-direct us, prune us, etc.
Perhaps you have chafed under the burden of some experience or trial for which you could not see God’s purpose. You begged and begged to be released from that burden, only to not be released. Then, later on in your life, you needed that experience to help you in some other area or phase of life. At that point, you were grateful to have undergone it years earlier. The midrash says that David chafed under the madness of King Saul who, in part because of his deranged mind, sought continually to have David killed. Apparently, David complained to God about this and criticized Saul because of it. It is recorded in 1 Samuel 21, though, that while David was “on the run” from Saul, he fled to the land of the Philistines. When he got there, the king, Achish, threatened to have David killed. In response, David accessed from his own life experience the ravings of Saul he had witnessed. He appropriated them for his own purposes. He began to act like a raving lunatic, letting saliva run down his beard (vs. 14), writing outlandish, slanderous statements on the city walls, etc. to the point the king threw him out of the city of Gath, driving him away. According to 1 Samuel 21:16, King Achish said, “Am I lacking in mad people that you bring this fellow to rave in my presence?” As my sister-in-law says, “I don’t do crazy”, meaning she can deal with just about anything except crazy behavior in other people.
How does all this apply to Psalm 34? The sages say that this psalm was written by King David in gratitude for his own madness. Some say his madness was faked, and other say that faked madness is unconvincing - - that his madness was given by God to get David out of Achish’s clutches and that it was genuine.
The superscript to this psalm mentions Abimelech, yet in 1 Samuel the king is called Achish. The sages say that Abimelech, which means “father of the king” in Hebrew, was a title that all the Philistine kings held, but that the king’s proper name was Achish.
Let’s read a few verses, 1-3. I am using the ISR 1998 version today.
The Scriptures (ISR 1998)
1I bless יהוה at all times; His praise is continually in my mouth.
2My being makes its boast in יהוה; Let the humble hear and be glad.
3Oh, make יהוה great with me, And let us exalt His Name together.
As he often did, here, David began by blessing Hashem. In these three verses, I think of 3 “B” words - - bless, boast, build. The Hebrew language is verb-driven, whereas English, by contrast is noun-driven.
We bless Adonai through our prayers, our thoughts and our actions, acknowledging that all of His ways are full of kindness and mercy toward us. What is the opposite of blessing God? It is to complain and whine about the circumstances He brings us to. “At ALL times” is a high standard, isn’t it? How many of us practice this? Not many, and certainly I fall short in this area. The book of Kohelet, Ecclesiastes, in chapter 3, verses 2-8, lists 28 different types of ee-TEEM (Hebrew for “times), some happy and some sad. In humility, vs. 2, we boast, not in our own achievements, but in Him - - His character and actions. We harness our lives to build His kingdom, in the power of the Ruach HaKodesh who lives within us. May our egos fade away entirely, disappearing into the splendor of God! And in so doing, we exalt His Name, along with the rest of His own beloved children. A parallel word for “exalt” is “magnify” which means to make large, to make great. “O magnify the Lord with me”, some translations put it. {show magnifying glass}
4I sought יהוה, and He answered me, And delivered me from all my fears.
5They looked to Him and were lightened, And their faces were not ashamed.
6This poor one cried out and יהוה heard him, And saved him out of all his distresses.
7The messenger of יהוה encamps all around those who fear Him, And rescues them.
8Oh, taste and see that יהוה is good; Blessed is the man that takes refuge in Him!
9Fear יהוה, you His set-apart ones, For there is no lack to them who fear Him!
The theme in these verses is the two major uses of the word “fear” in Scripture, almost to the point of a play on words here. In verse 4, fears are threatening to overtake David. These were fears of consequences, of punishment, fears for his own personal well-being. And, how could those not threaten to do overtake him? He had been captured by a rival king, which almost always meant certain death. Notice he did not ask to be delivered from the situation, though. He prayed for courage, to be delivered from his FEARS.
David then turns the word to the other meaning of “fear” in verse 9, when he admonishes the set-apart ones, the sanctified ones, the saints, the Body, the Bride, to have reverent awe of Hashem. If we do that, we will truly lack nothing that we actually need. He will supply all our needs, in Yeshua HaMashiach, as Paul stated in Philippians 4:19. “No lack”.
In verse 5, the word in this translation “lightened” is elsewhere translated “radiant”. Those who look to the LORD will have their burdens lightened, and their faces will become radiant and unashamed. The Hebrew word for “radiant” is similar to the word for “river” (nahar), connoting that those who look to the Lord in trials will not be paralyzed into inaction, but will instead flow, surging confidently ahead like a mighty river. As I write these words, I am sitting beside a magnificent river in the mountains.
In verse 6 David calls himself a “poor man”. As a king, even a king on the run, he uses this descriptor. Does this seem odd to you? He was a very humble person. His choice of words reminds me of Jesus’ beatitude in the Sermon on the Mount. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they shall see God.” David did see God, in a number of ways, throughout His life. He saw Him through His supernatural works on His behalf. He actually did see the incarnated LORD, the Angel of the LORD, once in battle, a fearsome sight.
That same angel of the Lord is referenced in verse 7. Whereas David saw Him in a war scene, wreaking death and destruction, here He is pictured as a rescuer of those who fear Him. In one version, the verb is “release”…He releases them. In other words, He removes them from the menace of the surrounding foe, as He did for David.
Verse 8 - - “taste and see” - - what does that mean? The sages say that taste refers to apprehending with the senses the goodness of God, and “see” refers to examining and comprehending with the intellect His goodness. The ArtScroll Tehillim commentary, on page 411 says this: ”Only after a person tastes and sees the generosity of God in providing for all can he appreciate His kindness. And if God is so generous even to those who have not asked for His assistance, how much more magnanimous must He be to those who actually take refuge in Him?”
Talk about asking for the impossible.
In verse 10, we then see a strong command. In Hebrew this is an imperative.
Y’re’OOH ET HE. If you belong to Hashem, through His Son, which as we are told in the Brit Chadasha is the only way to come to Him, since Yeshua’s work was done, we are to fear God. There are no “holy ones”, no sanctified ones, apart from those whose hearts have been redeemed by Yeshua, than those in whom God’s spirit dwells. The Jewish perspective on being holy is characterized by both abstinence and separation. The holy person, the sages say, abstains from doing evil and takes great care to separate himself from situations in which he might be tempted, by erecting safeguards. This is the thinking behind the so-called “rabbinical fences” that surround many of the 613 commandments of Torah. Let me give you an example to illustrate this. There was this interesting practice that compulsive spenders would engage it, and that was to freeze their credit cards. I mean, to submerge them in a container of water and literally freeze the water with the card in it, until it became a block of ice! The ice was the “fence” you see. The person then could not use the card, because the fence prohibited him from getting to it. The Jewish perspective is more along the lines of what followers of Yeshua call “sanctification”, the process of allowing the Ruach HaKodesh to work in one’s life and produce the fruit of sanctification/holiness/set-apartness for the Master’s use, AFTER the initial “salvation”, the justification which transformed the spirit and gave the person eternal life.
Well I have gotten a bit off-track here. Let’s read some more verses of this psalm. Verses 10-17
10Young lions have lacked and been hungry; But those who seek יהוה lack not any good matter.
11Come, you children, listen to me; Let me teach you the fear of יהוה.
12Who is the man who desires life, Who loves many days, in order to see good?
13Keep your tongue from evil, And your lips from speaking deceit.
14Turn away from evil and do good; Seek peace, and pursue it.
15The eyes of יהוה are on the righteous, And His ears unto their cry.
16The face of יהוה is against evil-doers, To cut off their remembrance from the earth.
17The righteous cried out, and יהוה heard, And delivered them out of all their distresses.
There are books written all the time, concerning how to prolong one’s life - - health books, philosophy books, etc. David’s advice for living a long life and to see good in it is this: Don’t use your tongue to speak evil or to speak deceitfully. Don’t gossip or slander or speak hate toward your fellow man, and don’t lie, that is. The sages point out that David was constantly slandered by evil men, who bent the ear of King Saul and thereby kept the flames of Saul’s hate burning hot against David. One such foolish fellow was this character named Doeg, who was an Edomite. At the very time David was fleeing to Achish and right into the hands of the brothers of Goliath, Doeg was deceiving Saul by telling him of Davi’s visit to the city of Nob. It was at Nob that David was favorably received by priests there, who thought David was still in Saul’s good graces. Because of this, the poor folks of Nob were executed by Saul, since Doeg had convinced him that they were conspiring with David to overthrow Saul’s throne! This is textbook slander, lying, deceit, and it was close to David’s heart.
There is a Midrash that the Rabbi Shimon ben Gamaliel told his servant, Tavi, to go to the market and buy some good food. Tavi returned with beef tongue. Later, the rabbi instructed him to go buy some bad food. Again, Tavi returned with beef tongue. When the rabbi questioned him about his choices, Tavi replied that both good and bad can come from a tongue. When a tongue is good there is nothing better, but when it is bad there is nothing worse.
Then, (verse 14), David exhorts us to turn away from evil and instead proactively do good toward your fellow man. Radak, the Torah sage, said that this meant to perform all of the positive commandments. Interestingly, the Tehillos Hashem taught that the 613 commandments (mitzvot) correspond to the 248 organs and 365 sinews, ligaments and tendons of the human body.
Chase after peace. Pursue it, David said. The Midrash tells a story of how Aaron, the first high priest, pursued peace. When he heard that two men were at odds with each other, he would go to one of them and tell him that he had just seen the other man beating his breast and tearing his clothes, in anguish over being at fault in the argument. In so doing, Aaron saw to it that this man was appeased. Then, he left and went and repeated the procedure with the other man. The next time the two former adversaries were together, they embraced each other in total reconciliation. Pursuing peace….
It is no accident that Jews greet each other with “Shalom!”, which means “peace” or more modernly “Ma shlomake?” if speaking to a female and “Ma shloMEHkha”, if speaking to a male. Both these mean “How’s your peace?” Or, do you have peace and wholeness today?
So, here in these verses, David gives us here a good summary. Of course, the commandment to honor one’s father and mother should be part of that, but I guess David was taking that one as a “given”, along the lines of “well, everyone knows that!”
Verse 17 is one of the more famous verses of this psalm. David was exclaiming this because God delivered him from the clutches of the Philistine king, Achish.
Implicit in verse 17 is that righteous WILL undergo trials! We should not be surprised to undergo them, but rather expect them and even welcome them. This is in total opposition to how the world conditions us to react to trials and tests, but totally in keeping with the commands of our God.
Now, for the last verses in this psalm, 18 through 23:
18יהוה is near to the broken-hearted, And saves those whose spirit is crushed.
20He is guarding all his bones; Not one of them is broken.
21Evil does slay the wrong, And those who hate the righteous are guilty.
22יהוה redeems the lives of His servants, And none of those taking refuge in Him are guilty.
Verse 18 has been recited by many a godly person who trusted in God, cried out to Him and saw the resulting deliverance. I like the translation of this verse used by the writers of the ArtScroll Tehillim series. It puts it like this: Hashem is close to the brokenhearted; and those crushed in spirit, He saves.
The Hebrew word translated “brokenhearted” here connotes totally shattered, more like the “crushed” later on in the verse. Turei Zahav, a sage, says that the more shattered the heart, the closer is God. I often pray this for those who are just absolutely devastated. In real time, in my community, a beautiful, talented, brilliant young woman of 18 years shot herself to death in front of her parents this past week. The entire community was stunned. She had fought a battle with depression for many years, and how to pray for this family? Any of our words seem insufficient. But, we can pray for the Lord to be extremely close to them during this most awful time.
Rabbi Alexandri goes on to say that God uses broken and mended vessels, even though we disdain them. When company comes over, we put aside the marred, cracked, chipped plates, and use only the perfect-looking ones. That’s not how God operates, though.
Speaking of verses 17 and 18, many are asking in my community why her God (her referring to the young woman who took her own life) why her God did not deliver her from the ravages of severe depression and suicidal ideation? Well, in a way He did. She is now forever with Him. But, He did not deliver her in the way we would have preferred, did He?
You see, we want John MacArthur outcomes. Yesterday, in real time, Dr. John MacArthur died at the age of 86, I think. He had faithfully pastored the same church in California for over 50 years. He published a well-known study bible and wrote several books. No taint of scandal surrounded him. He lived a holy life. This is the way we want things to go, in our world! Serve God faithfully, live a long time, leave a beautiful legacy behind when it’s your time to go. According to Hashem’s sovereignty, that is not always how lives turn out.
This made me think of probably the most misunderstood “premature death” ever - - - the death of Yeshua at the hands of His enemies. Imagine you were one of His 12 disciples, His innermost circle, and you believed wholeheartedly that He was the Messiah foretold for thousands of years. According to the Messiah Ben David prophecies, He was destined to overthrow the Roman oppressors and return Judah to its glory days, and indeed, the whole earth. Now, with that belief firmly in place, how could that have possibly jived with Yeshua’s arrest, crucifixion and burial. Talk about questioning God’s actions in a situation! Talk about kicking up against God’s sovereignty! They did not understand His plan at all. They were frightened for their own lives, frightened of being identified as His followers, cowering in homes, praying fervently, but cowering still. It was not until His resurrection they began to understand. Still, they did not fully understand even then.
When horrible things happen, such as the dozens of young girls at a Bible camp, swept away in raging flood waters a couple weeks ago, how do we reconcile these horrors with verses 17 and 18 here? The answer is that His ways are not our ways, nor are His thoughts our thoughts. It’s no accident that verse 18 follows verse 17.
When God fails to “deliver” for us, as we think He should, despite our most impassioned, tear-soaked prayers, understandably our response is broken-heartedness. Our souls are shattered.
At those times, and especially at those times, we are invited to draw nearer, still nearer, to Him.
The last verses of this psalm are Messianic prophecy. Verse 20, for instance, was fulfilled as Yeshua hung on the execution stake, giving His life for us. When the Romans saw the Sabbath was approaching, that the day was getting late, the guards moved to hasten the deaths of the three men, Jesus and the two thieves who flanked him. They broke the legs of the two thieves, who were still alive. But, they left Yeshua’s legs intact. There was no need to break them, because He had already commended His Spirit to His Father. His soul and spirit had taken refuge in Hashem, and therefore there was no condemnation on Yeshua, even in His physical death.
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